Category: Tips

There’s no denying that technology has advanced over the recent years, in particular, mobile phones. Some of the flagship phones today have amazing camera capabilities and in some instances, sharing the same technology found in entry level DSLRs. Apps have also improved over the recent years becoming more robust and sophisticated, as a result, we now see an abundant number of photo editing apps from basic filters to advanced post-processing and object removal.

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OK so you’ve been thinking about doing some Street Photography but never got round to it, I don’t blame ya as it is not a genre typically embarrassed by many especially if you’re only just getting into Photography. Hopefully, these 5 quick tips will help you in your transition or if you’re already an aspiring Street Photographer these will help improve your game while out on the streets.

One of the great features with all Fuji X Series cameras is the ability to apply various Film Simulations. However when shooting RAW and importing in Lightroom, the Film Sim effects are not carried across. Fortunately Lightroom has added Fuji profiles to allow you to apply these Film Sims in post production.

For those new to Lightroom simply launch LR and go into Development mode, from the right-hand editing pane scroll down to the bottom until you see the Camera Calibration module.

All the Film Sims can be found under the Profile menu, simply select the desired Film Sim and the image will apply the selected effect.

I’ve been asked a few times what my camera settings are so I thought I’ll just share them with you here. Just remember that these are settings that work for me and my style of shooting and may not appeal to you. I’ll also try and explain where I can what some of the settings actually do so here we go…

SHOOTING MENU 1

Bracket Settings: As I shoot JPEG about 90% of the time, I’ve set my bracketing mode set to Film Simulation. The three Film Sim brackets I have set are Std, Classic Chrome and B&W+R.

Auto-Focus Settings

Focus Area: The focus frame has 5 sizes with 1 being the smallest and 5 being the largest, I have mine set to size 3 and positioned to the center of the screen. The size of the focus frame has an impact on the AF speed. Example if you’re shooting a portrait and fill the frame with the subject’s face, you’ll set the size to its smallest point and focus on the eyes. The camera will easily focus on that point, however if you’re about 10 meters away the subject their eye’s become more difficult to focus on, therefore if you have it set to its smallest size and try to focus on the eyes the lens will often at times hunt back and forth on the focus frame. You’ll also run the risk of blurry images as the camera may focus on the nose or cheeks over the eyes. Therefore setting the size to a slightly bigger focus frame will increase the speed AF and reduce the chance of blurry images.

Release/Focus Priority: I have both AF-S and AF-C set to focus priority. If you’re all about capturing the moment and not worried whether the shot is in focus then set it to Release priority.

Instant AF Setting: This settings allows those shooting in manual focus mode to still use the auto-focus functionality by simply pressing the AF-L button. I have mine set to AF-S.

AF Mode: I’ve got mine set to Single Point but switch to Zone when shooting street photography especially when shooting from the hip.

Face Detection: On only when shooting portraits otherwise I have it switched off to save battery. This works well in conjunction with Eye Detection AF.

Eye Detection AF: This allows you to set the priority between right eye and left eye. I have it set to Auto

Pre-AF: All this does when switched on is constantly focus at the focus point regardless if the shutter-release button is pressed. This is heavy on the battery, I recommend disabling this feature.

AF Illuminator: OFF unless you’re in a pitch black room 🙂 If you’re taking candid photos I recommend turning this off, you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.

1. Move your feet

Photo by Ken Tripp

Instead of just snapping away where you stand, get in close or take a step back, you’ll be surprised at how it can change the look and feel of an image. Try and imagine how the shot will look up close or a little further back, if the background is too noisy/busy then isolate the subject by stepping in closer. If you want more in the frame, take a step back.

2. Try different angles

This works best when combined with point 1, don’t just take shots at eye level, try different angles. Depending on your subject or the type of feel you’re trying to invoke onto the viewer, certain angles work better than others. For example photographing toddlers or young children you should get down low to their level, same applies for pets. For portraits it is almost a sin to shoot from bottom up, instead, shoot top down as this produces a more flattering look for the subject, after all, it hides the double chin :))

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This one’s for all you Android users out there, Adobe has finally made Lightroom for Android FREE! They’ve scrapped the subscription based however you’ll lose the sync functionality, if you wish to keep this feature you’ll have to have a subscription.

This probably won’t win over the hearts of other editing apps out there such as snapseed, pixlr or vsco, but it’ll certain appeal to photographers who are Android devices. For those who exclusively shoot using their phones, you can now finally edit those .DNG files.

If you’re use to using other editing apps, I still recommend at least giving this a try. I’ll be writing up a short ‘First Impressions’ post on the app soon enough so stay tuned.

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If you’ve operated a camera in full manual mode then you already know what the ‘Exposure Triangle’ is.

Those of you who are familiar with the Fuji X-T1 and the XF lenses are aware that the ISO and Shutter settings are located on dials on top of the camera body, while the aperture is controlled on the lens. Now if you assign all settings to ‘A’ (automatic mode) and connect the A’s together, you get the shape of a triangle. Coincidence or clever design on Fuji’s part?